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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: coach · race · mate · staff · ball · wind · file · clip

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. file — a tool
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. mate — to breed
  5. ball — a dance
  6. wind — moving air
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. ball — a great time
  10. file — a line of people
  11. staff — a stick
  12. file — a document
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — a contest
  15. clip — to cut
  16. wind — moving air
  17. mate — a friend
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. staff — employees
  20. clip — a video
  21. mate — a partner
  22. clip — for paper
  23. race — the arms race
  24. wind — to turn a key

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com